Broadberry Sports

Whitecraigs Rugby Club came calling last night and, in the days before, negotiations were in full flow so players could play early so they could watch the old firm matches. It felt like the whole match was played in shifts, with people dropping in and out.

First on (early) at No.1 was James (Singh) v Andrew McBean and Flash Harry took on the marking duties. The match was 3-0 to James and I didn’t see much of it, although during the 3rd game I did hear Harry announce, whilst he was marking, “You don’t make this easy, do you?” so there were obviously a few contentious calls to deal with.

Next on were the No. 5s – as Ollie (Millen) took on Dan Hackley. Ollie was looking solid at No. 5 and I’m not talking about his squash! Having said that, his squash also looked solid last night and the difference between the players was that Ollie had more experience that Dan, so he was able to (largely) dictate the play to his advantage. His points tally was always in a positive position, which allowed him to relax into the game and dictate the play, so a good performance from Ollie and 3 more points to the total.

Chris (Murphy) went on next against Allan McKay at No.2 and was also looking in charge of the match. I’m not sure how to describe a particular shot he played in the 1st game, which was a boast…. whilst facing the back wall……played behind his back….. with the wrong side of the racket! But Chris seemed completely unperturbed with having played it, like it was any other shot that everyone plays! Allan was getting more and more into the match, but at 0-2 down & 4-10 down in the 3rd, I was thinking he may have left this come-back a little too late!! But not a bit of it, as he won the next 6 points to force a tie break! However, Chris eventually realised the danger and ended up stumbling over the finishing line 13-11 (and in-so-doing he’d secured the 3 bonus match points to boot).

Flash Harry (Anderson) took to the court next against Douggie Emery and, although the two of them had been at Whitecraigs Rugby together for years (when Harry’s dad, Matt, was a team stalwart and Harry was just a mini-flash), they had never played a competitive match. Douggie played well, but Harry was moving like a blur at times, and it was very difficult to see how Douggie was going to make too many inroads. The early parts of all the games were all tight, but Harry was just a little too good tonight and won the tie 3-0 (with Mizukis whenever he could manage them…….. obviously!).

I went on last against Colin Hutton who had just marked the last match and was busy ferrying the kids around earlier, so I think I caught him a bit distracted in the 1st game and managed to win that one. Colin was hitting his lefty-forehands like a rocket, so I decided not to put the ball there as much as possible, then when I realised that he was struggling to read my boast, the 2nd game was secured as well. However, the 3rd was a much tighter affair and at 8-7 I needed to significantly tighten up, which I fortunately managed to do to sneak that game and win our match.

So a good 18 points to the team total and into the back-bar for the footie and pasta bolognaise, garlic bread & Erdie for dinner. The lads were in the mood to celebrate the win (and my birthday, the day before!) so myself, John Howie (who had returned triumphant from the 2nd team match) and the lads put the world to rights and James slinked out of the bar as he was off to show off his abbs to a mysterious lucky person!